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Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba is set to deliver his judgment next Wednesday on whether Canada is liable for the loss of cultural identity suffered by indigenous children when they were taken from their homes and placed in non-indigenous care between the 1960s and the early 1980s.

But in a move described as unprecedented and which has outraged the Ontario plaintiffs, the government’s lawyers have asked Belobaba to postpone the release of his ruling because Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett has announced she wants to start negotiations on a settlement with ’60s Scoop survivors across the country.

No ’60s Scoop lawsuit has moved as far through the courts as the Ontario case, and one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers said his clients want the ruling delivered next week as planned.

“This is unheard of and should be firmly rejected,” lawyer Jeffery Wilson told the Star Wednesday. “The minister rose in the house last week saying this is a dark chapter in Canadian history. So is the minister saying that for her, the process of healing means you deny everyone access to justice?”

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After many attempts by the government to delay the case or have it dismissed altogether over the last eight years, the lawsuit was finally heard in court last year at what is called a summary judgment proceeding, in which the plaintiffs argue they have enough evidence against the defendants to forego a full trial.

Contrary to what the government has said in court, Bennett reiterated in a statement to the Star Wednesday that the Liberals are committed to negotiation and reconciliation.

“In this case, the government is asking, again, to sit down with all parties to discuss the best way forward to achieve a fair settlement for the claimants and to advance reconciliation between indigenous people and the government of Canada,” she said.

Government lawyer Barney Brucker, who has not previously appeared in court on the ’60s Scoop lawsuit, wrote this week in an email obtained by the Star that, given Bennett’s announcement of her intention to negotiate, the lawyers would like to discuss with Belobaba “the potential benefits to the negotiations that an abeyance of your decision might have.”

Morris Cooper, another lawyer for the plaintiffs, told the judge that his clients were “firmly” against the proposal.

“Respectfully, this unprecedented, unilateral request by the defendant that you consider delaying the forthcoming release of your reasons for decision brings to mind the only reply that would have been uttered by my late father in similar circumstances, namely the singular Yiddish word ‘Chutzpah,’ ” Cooper wrote.

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“No translation does it justice, but it can fairly be said to mean ‘shameless audacity, impudence, gall, or effrontery.’

“To the best of my knowledge, no lawyer for a defendant has ever asked a court, in any common-law jurisdiction, after the completion of a trial or summary judgment hearing, to hold off the release of the decision so that the defendant can now go out into the hall and begin an effort to discuss a settlement with the plaintiff.”

Belobaba told the government’s lawyers Wednesday that they can file a motion by the end of this week to delay the release of his judgment. He said he would then rule on that motion early next week.

“As you know, the plaintiff is not going to consent to any delay in the release of my decision, as is their right,” he said in an email to the parties. “I have never heard of a defendant succeeding in a motion to delay the release of a decision, but I am keeping an open mind and will review your motion in writing with care.”

It is estimated that there are at least 16,000 ’60s Scoop survivors in Ontario.

The class action is seeking up to $1.3 billion in damages.

The NDP’s indigenous affairs critic called out Bennett and the Liberal government for speaking so strongly about truth and reconciliation in public,then sending in lawyers to fight the ’60s Scoop survivors in court.

“Whether it’s the ongoing cases in the residential school settlement agreement or the ’60s Scoop, this government is applying the same brass knuckles, obstructive approach that has been applied for years by the government of Canada,” Charlie Angus told the Star.

“I want to hear the prime minister say why he’s sending in lawyers to say they’re not responsible for the actions of destroying cultural identity.

“It is perverse, in 2017, for the government of Canada to act in such an obstructive and insidious manner, when they made very clear public promises to do the opposite.”

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